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Conrad Black gives exclusive interview to CBC

Former media baron and ex-convict Conrad Black has given an exclusive interview to CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge that will air Monday on The National.

Black talks to Mansbridge in an interview filmed at his Bridle Path estate. He served almost four years in a U.S. prison on charges of fraud and obstruction of justice.

The CBC has been airing portions of the interview ahead of the broadcast, including one where Black denies receiving any “special treatment” from the Conservative government of Stephen Harper.

Black said he did not request any special consideration to return to Canada on a temporary residence permit.

“I said we will make no overture to them at all. They must have absolute ability to deny that there has been any political contact whatsoever. And there was none,” Black told CBC news.

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Earlier this month NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said the government was giving special treatment to Harper’s supporters.

Black said he was not pleased that Mulcair called him a “British criminal” while in the House of Commons.

While Black has broken his silence for the first time, so too has his wife, Barbara Amiel, who writes in Maclean’s magazine that her husband thought he would not be able to get the temporary residence permit to stay in Canada.

“I’m taking my blood pressure pills, but I don’t know how much more of this I can take before I have a stroke,” Black told his wife.

Amiel said Black’s first words to her were: “My brave, sweet duck, the night is over.”

The full interview airs Monday on The National at 9, 10 and 11 p.m. ET/PT on CBC News Network, and also on The National on CBC-TV at 10 p.m. ET.

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